A biography of the first French Baha'i, followed by telegrams and letters from Shoghi Effendi to Laura Dreyfus-Barney and Hippolyte's sister Mrs. Yvonne Meyer-May.

Notes:

Here is an article that Laura Dreyfus-Barney intended for The Baha'i World. It was in Laura Dreyfus-Barney's papers in the French Baha'i National Centre. It had no title. I gave it the title Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney. The text had the form of a typed article with manuscript corrections, which I included in the article I'm posting here. I also changed the transliteration for the Persian words (Baha'i for Bahai, &c.) as well as for Chinese words (in Pinyin). Two crossed passages seemed interesting. I left them between [ ]. -Thomas Linard

Biography of Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney

Hippolyte Dreyfus' relation to Bahá'u'lláh, to
`Abdu'l-Bahá and to the Guardian can best be understood
when one reads the moving letter that Shoghi Effendi wrote
immediately after his death in December 1928. (See The
Bahá'í World Volume III, Page 210). The Guardian
expresses the nobility of his service and spirit better than
I could hope to do. I shall attempt merely to point out
certain things which prepared Hippolyte Dreyfus for life, and
enabled him to gain the confidence of men and women of very
different standing.

He was an only son of a well-known French family. He had all
the advantages that could be obtained from a happy home and
from an intellectual and artistic center such as Paris at the
height of its culture. He grew up strong in appreciation of
life and all that it has to offer. When he reached manhood
his questing mind led him onward to ever-vaster horizons.

Law was the profession he chose and he became the secretary
of one of the most prominent barristers in France. While he
pursued his career with success he came close to the problems
and difficulties of many people, and his generosity of heart
gave him a subtle understanding of human nature. He had the
rare quality of being more interested in others than in
himself.

He spoke little of the past. What I know of his life before
1900 has come to me through outside channels. For instance,
it was his sister who told me of his fondness for mountain
climbing. Again, at his death a friend wrote me that in the
whirl of a Parisian life he founded with her a welfare
society for home visiting, and was untiring in his support of
those who had so little of that of which he had so much.

The Dreyfus family used to give musicales frequented by
people of taste, including many artists. It was at one of
these entertainments that he met Mrs. Sanderson and her
daughters, Sybil of opera fame and Edith who became later a
leading Bahá'í in France. It was through May Bolles that
both Edith and Hippolyte entered the Faith a short time after
she had given me the Message. It was really May, our
spiritual guide, who started the Bahá'í group in France;
though the Babi and Bahá'í movement was known to an elite
through the writings of several distinguished French authors.

The first meeting with Hippolyte Dreyfus that I can recall
was in 1900 in Paris on the threshold of May Bolles'
apartment near l'École des Beaux Arts. He was
leaving, I was arriving to hear more of the Babi epilogue.
Though I was away from France almost constantly from 1901 to
1906 I knew that he had become an outstanding Bahá'í and
that his father and mother, his sister and brother-in-law had
all joined the Cause. Their gracious home was a center for
inquirers and followers. Their summer house,
"Daru'l-Salam" on Mont Pelèrin,
Switzerland, was also open wide to people of many lands and
many beliefs. It was on this mountain that he made some of
his first French translations of the writings of
Bahá'u'lláh with Mirza Habibu'llah of Shiraz.

Hippolyte Dreyfus was already an excellent linguist and his
trained mind grasped readily the force and beauty of the
idioms of the Persian tongue that he had decided to learn.
His constant reading of Bahá'u'lláh's works in
this language and later on in Arabic gave him an unusual
insight into the teachings and mission of this great
Manifestation. Throughout the years he translated and
published many of these works.

He translated from the Arabic the Book of Aqdas which he
annotated during a sojourn in `Akka with the aid of
`Abdu'l-Bahá. This work as well as the French translation
of the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá, and a number
of valuable tablets are unpublished. May they be preserved in
my Paris home!

His translation of
An-Nuru'l-Abha-fi-Mufawadat (Some Answered
Questions) was appreciated by the French reader and he
was requested to write an introductory book on the Bahá'í
Cause which he named Essai sur le
Béhaïsme. He published articles in
reviews: of particular interest is his study on the
Mashriqu'l-Adhkar.

He visited the Holy Land seven or eight times. His last three
trips were after the departure of `Abdu'l-Bahá, when he
wished to be with the Guardian whom he had known as a youth
and for whom he bore a deep and understanding love. As soon
as the news of the Master's death reached us in Burma we
returned to Palestine as rapidly as transportation could take
us. [His trip to `Akka in 1903 was with Lua Getsinger and
Edith Sanderson]. The last journey East was in 1926 with
his valued friend Mountfort Mills. They visited Shoghi
Effendi in Haifa in that year and went on to Cairo on a
special mission for the Guardian before returning to France.
He was often called upon to perform these special missions,
to arrange an audience with the Shah of Persia during his
visit to Paris [in 1902] when a Bahá'í delegation
was received to protest the persecutions then taking place in
Persia against their spiritual brethren. Again in 1906 he was
one of the two first Bahá'ís from the West sent to
Persia. Later in Tunis he obtained from the French
authorities permission to have the Bahá'í teachings
promulgated in Tunisia.

It was he who met `Abdu'l-Bahá at Marseille in 1911 when
the Master reached Europe for the first time. He had the
privilege of guiding him to Thonon-les-Bains. The Master
delighted in the verdant country the train passed through to
bring him to this quiet place on the Lake of Geneva, where
the Bahá'ís came to see him from other parts of Europe.

'Abdu'l-Bahá relied on Hippolyte Dreyfus to arrange
his stays in France and his trip to and from England. He
called upon him not only to interpret into French an address
he gave in Pasteur Wagner's noted church in Paris, but
also to interpret into English the words he spoke to the
congregations of some of the outstanding churches in London.
The Master liked talking with this refined Frenchman skilled
in répartie. There was no restraint between
them. Hippolyte Dreyfus never put himself forward, but he was
always ready to carry out the most difficult tasks that might
be asked of him. He never "borrowed trouble"; he
faced situations with ease and when the occasion demanded
with unflinching courage. He was rapid in decision, but
deliberate in manner.

While he and I were in Qingdao, China, ready to journey up
the Yangzi River and overland by trail to Kunming (Yunnan),
the war broke out in 1914. Through his adroitness we got away
from the German colony and returned to France in time for him
to assume his military obligations. These were for the most
part in censorship because of his military classification,
linguistic abilities and legal training. He welcomed the
League of Nations as a great experiment and went several
times to Geneva to follow the sessions and to talk with
statesmen and experts.

Before and after the war he traveled extensively, making
friends easily wherever he went. Sometimes on train or
steamer, at the bridge table, at the Sorbonne, and again in
long walks which he liked to take through the city and in the
country.

Hippolyte Dreyfus was a well balanced and independent person.
He liked both thought and action. He could sit at his desk
and translate and read all day and late into the night. Or he
could go for a swim or horseback ride with friends or alone.
Though ready of speech and eloquent he preferred talking of
the Bahá'í Message to individuals and to small groups
rather than addressing large audiences.

What he did he did with pleasure. He never grumbled. He took
life as it came. In suffering he showed the simple fortitude
which manifested a mature soul. He was ready to die.

In the words of the Guardian: "His gifts of unfailing
sympathy and penetrating insight, his wide knowledge and
mature experience, all of which he utilised for the glory and
propagation of the Message of Bahá'u'lláh, will be
gratefully remembered by future generations who, as the days
go by, will better estimate the abiding value of the
responsibilities he shouldered for the introduction and
consolidation of the Bahá'í Faith in the Western
world."

Letters and Telegrams from Shoghi Effendi

Many of you manifested interest for my posting on Hippolyte
Dreyfus-Barney. So I persist and send you the telegrams and
letters Shoghi Effendi wrote to Laura Dreyfus-Barney and
Hippolyte's sister Mrs. Yvonne Meyer-May after
Hippolyte's death (I appended a text written by Mrs.
Meyer-May, which she sent to Shoghi Effendi -- I don't
know when). The letters and telegrams are copied after
photocopies of the originals, and Yvonne Meyer-May's
text after a typed transcription. --Thomas Linard

MOTHER MYSELF OVERWHELMED WITH UNSPEAKABLE SORROW MEMORY OF
HIS INESTIMABLE LOVING SUPPORT IN DAYS OF DARK AFFLICTION
FOLLOWING MASTERS PASSING EVER ENSHRINED IN OUR HEARTS ASSURE
YOU TENDEREST SYMPATHY -- SHOGHI

Haifa, Palestine

Dec. 21, 1928

My dear Laura Khanum:

We were all profoundly moved when we received the news of the
passing of our dear Hippolyte, and I assure you that since
the ascension of our Beloved, the family, and myself
included, never felt the sense of loss & the pain of
overwhelming sorrow as acutely as we did the night we
received your wire, announcing the passing of one who was
close & dear to us all.

Needless to say how overpowering is the sense of his loss to
me, in particular, who received from him such comfort and
support in perhaps the darkest days of my life, &
cherished the fondest hopes for his future contribution to
the advancement of the international work of the Cause.

None, I can confidently assert, among the
Bahá'ís of the East & the West,
combined to the extent that he did the qualities of genial
& enlivening fellowship, of intimate acquaintance with
the manifold aspects of the Cause, of sound judgement &
distinctive ability, of close familiarity with the problems
& condition of the world -- all of which made him such a
lovable, esteemed & useful collaborator & friend.

I have, impelled by my love & admiration for him,
addressed the enclosed message to my co-workers throughout
the West, that those who knew him not may recognise his
standing & appreciate his achievements. I am certain that
the National Spiritual Assemblies of America & Persia,
responding to my cabled request, will take the necessary
measures for the holding of memorial gatherings as a tribute
to one who advanced so effectively the international interest
of the Cause.

I will for ever regret that, not realizing the gravity &
the hopelessness of the illness which afflicted him, I failed
to demonstrate in a fuller manner, the sentiments of profound
& abiding affection that I have always cherished for him
in my heart.

My mother wishes me to express to you her deep sense of
affectionate sympathy in the loss of one who proved such a
sustaining & sympathetic friend in her gloomiest hours of
anxiety & sorrow.

Rest assured, dear Laura Khanum, that in my hours of prayer
& meditation at the holy Shrines, I will frequently &
tenderly remember my dearly-beloved friend &
fellow-worker who has served so well our beloved Cause &
is now receiving from the hands of our Master the reward of
his notable achievements.

With kind regards & deepest sympathy,

Yours affectionately,

Shoghi

Jan. 24, 1929

Dear Laura Khanum,

I thank you for the beautiful & touching poem you sent me
as well as for the two previous letters you wrote me in
connexion with the passing of our dear Hippolyte.

I have shared their contents with the family who deeply
sympathize with you in your sorrow & loneliness.

I very much desire to have a good portrait of my departed
friend to keep in my study wherein we have spent delightful
hours conversing & collaborating with regard to the
affairs of the Cause. With your consent I should very much
like to forward a copy to America for publication in the next
issue of the Bahá'í World. I am sending to your address a
copy of the one recently published & would welcome any
comment you wish to make.

Wishing you the best of health, & success in your work.

Believe me, dear Laura Khanum,

Yours affectionately

Shoghi

Haifa, Palestine

March 12, 1929

My dear Laura Khanum:

I have delayed answering your very kind letter till the
receipt of the most welcome photos of our departed &
beloved Hippolyte, one of which I will take the liberty with
your consent, to send to America for publication in the next
issue of the Bahá'í World.

I am deeply appreciative of your generous offer of a
scholarship in memory of your dear husband, & I feel that
the vest procedure would be to send the pamphlet you sent me
to the Teheran Assembly who will be acquainted thereby with
the nature of the work of the university & will be better
qualified to appoint the suitable student. I will myself
communicate with them & will ask them to write to you
directly in connexion with any matters that may arise in
future. I find it difficult to make the appointment in
person, a I find no one here in Haifa or the adjoining
countries that could really use to the best advantage the
opportunities presented by such a university. Furthermore, a
direct connexion with the recognized national representatives
of the Bahá'ís of Persia, would I feel, be more
appropriate & closer to the wish of Hippolyte himself.

Please, be assured, dear Laura Khanum, of my profound
sympathy with you in your great bereavement, as well as of my
lively gratitude for your noble & generous action.

Yours affectionately,

Shoghi

Envelope:

Madame Paul Meyer-May

21 Boulevard Beausejour,

Paris,

France

Jan. 24, 1929

Dear Madam:

I am deeply touched & grateful to you for your beautiful
translation of my circular letter in connexion with the
passing of our dear Hippolyte. What I have written &
attempted to express is indeed only an inadequate tribute to
the many & unforgettable services he has rendered to the
Cause & humanity in the course of his rich & fruitful
life.

I deeply sympathize with you in the severe loss you sustain,
and will supplicate the almighty comforter to cheer &
sustain you in your sorrow.